India Leadership Forum

NASSCOM's annual convention for 2004, titled India Leadership Forum will be held at Hotel Oberoi, Mumbai from February 3 to February 5, 2004 .
India Leadership Forum will focus on four important areas:

• Track A will focus on the global economic scenario, security imperatives, and managing a global company .
  
• Track B will be devoted to issues such as Indian BPO offerings in the light of their approaching maturity, challenges in process transition, issues related to offshoring, discussions on city competitiveness of key states for IT & ITES-BPO
  
• Track C would focus on building alliances during which country delegations will address the Indian IT industry
  
• ·Track D will discuss technology issues such as open source networking, security, e-governance

Stephen Timms, minister of state for energy, e-commerce and postal services, United Kingdom will inaugurate the convention on February 3,200.

Nasscom sources say the event will be India's first hi-tech conference which will go beyond technology. Global IT leaders, analysts, bankers, politicians, bureaucrats from US, UK, Europe, Asia Pacific will join Indian industry representatives and key government functionaries and the customer community to debate the implications of the growth of hi-tech industry on the global economy.

Between them, they will cover a wide spectrum of technology and business issues from global trends to information-communications technology (ICT) trends in India, currently popular software platforms, emerging opportunities and analysis of fast growing markets and strategies.

The speakers, all respected names in their field, will analyse the outlook for multilateral trade agreements, immigration of ICT specialists and their impact on skills-starved developed economies, structural shifts in global economic growth due to offshore outsourcing, trends in global currency markets and the growing challenge of bridging the digital divide.

CEOs of Fortune 500 global companies will speak on managing multicultural corporations and the growing complexities of global businesses. Analysts from all leading firms will debate the emerging contours of the global IT landscape and the challenges for global vendors. And of course, leading IT buyers will speak of what they expect from their vendors in 2004.

This event will host a galaxy of IT leaders and thinkers, creating a major platform for ideas and experience sharing. Some of them are:

Dave McCurdy: president of the Electronic Industries Alliance in the US and one of the most influential executives and lobbyists, has been a member of the House of Representatives for 14 years. He was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and the Democratic Leadership Council. McCurdy will talk on offshoring and the opportunities and challenges that US and Indian companies will face in BPO.

James Carafano: a senior research fellow for defence and homeland security at the Heritage Foundation, widely respected by members of Congress and the White House. He will explore business opportunities for Indian companies arising out of the future IT need for the US under its homeland security strategy .

Dan Griswold: director of the Cato Center for Trade Policy Studies will talk about the benefits of free trade and globalization and issues such as US India services, trade and immigration (visas). Besides defining the outlook for global trade, he will also take a close look at the emerging world order, where bilateral trading agreements are playing a more dominant role. Griswold will provide an insight on the possibility of the potential for a US-India FTA in services.

Elliot Schwartz: an unparalleled expert on budgetary issues in the US and commentator on technology, trade and the economy is expected to talk about the US perspective on outsourcing of services. He will speak about the key challenges facing global trade in services, the key players in the business and the impact of the backlash on services trading.